My son has a crush! Like a serious-serious one!
So, he is 9 and a half and this lady in question is 10 and quite a charming girl. And this entire romantic episode (one-sided, from what I gather) blossomed over the last couple of years through on and off meetings. Well, she is a family friends’ daughter to happens to come over every Durga Puja to our house and stays over with one of my aunts-in-law (in spite of one happening at theirs) because she finds ‘ours’ more exciting and fun. Well, rather lucky for my little young man! Now, while this fascination has been there for a year or more, this time it really became obvious.
Durga Puja, as most Bengalis know, is the time for short-term (rarely even long-term ) romances to blossom! Almost all of us have had our 4-5 day whirlwind romances that have ebbed away with Kali Pujo or Winter Holidays at the max. All pandals and houses where there is Durga Puja has been since time immemorial (read our lifetime) been an incubation hub for flings, short-term romances, massive crushes-with people never managing to actually expressing themselves and spending years, yes, years in trying to tell the concerned person, with someone else actually walking away with the trophy in a couple of years! That, my dear friends, is one of the “nostalgias” for ever-romantic Bengalis!
And so to come back to Rhiju, well, he seems to be going all wobbly and confused trying to do the smartest things which, unfortunately, are ending up being the most stupid! I sometimes feel, trying to impress somebody you like is like enacting stand up comedy. It is about your presentation and the content together, never any one of them alone. And finally, it is the mood of the audience! In this case, the lady in question seems rather unmoved by his antics. And my poor boy, hapless in love, is ending up doing something even more foolish! As he informed me, she is not showing much interest so far, but he “respects” her decision and will give it “some time”.
And so, this exasperated mother is happy to see her boy (albeit sad and let down, right now) growing up and happier to hear words like “respect” and “some time” from my son who will soon become a part of a society that is rife with next-to-no patience and possibly much less respect for others than we can think of. Well, as long as he grows up to understand that “No means No, I am a happy mother!
Makes my Diwali a happier one, my champ!
The world around me 